While perusing some of my favorite Pagan blog sites, I came across a little tidbit referring to an on-line article which discussed the spiritual side of body art. Upon reading this article, I found it to be quite interesting, informative, and well-written. While it begins with a bit of background about the spiritual connotations of tattooing, most of the article is a question-and-answer interview with “Madame Lazonga” – a Seattle based tattoo artist who has long been advocating the importance of tattooing in people’s quest to connect with the Divine.
You can read this article for yourself by clicking on this link:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/02/20/findrelig.DTL
Interestingly, I think that there is a lot of truth to what Madame Lozonga has to say. Certainly, you will find tattoos to be fairly prevalent in the Pagan Community. Go to a Pagan Gathering, and I can almost guarantee that at least half the people there will be sporting a tattoo somewhere on their body. And the odds are, those tatts will in some way be reflecting their spirituality – whether it be pentacles or moons or celtic knotwork or the Goddess/Green Man.
This of course, begs the question – “so Osh…do YOU have a tattoo?”
Indeed I do…although it took me some time to work up my courage and conquer my aversion to needles.
Although I was ordained as a High Priestess in the Summer of 1984, and was given the opportunity at that time to get a free tattoo as an ordination gift, I turned down the generous offer and accepted a custom-made ring instead. I was still in my cowardly lion stage at that point.
It wasn’t until eight years later that I finally joined the ranks of the Painted Pagans. By that time I was living in Pennsylvania, where I was Executive Director of a non-profit agency serving deaf and hard of hearing consumers. One day, after doing a presentation to a women’s service organization a few towns over, I was driving leisurely through the countryside on my way home when I spied a sign that said “Tattoo Shop.”
A tattoo parlor here in this itty-bitty one-traffic-light country town in the middle of Amishland, USA??? This I had to see!!! So I pulled over and parked the car, and went to investigate. After putting it off all these years, I was beginning to seriously contemplate getting a tattoo – undoubtedly prompted by my Deaf friend Lucy, who sported a number of them on her own body. I was still nervous about the needles and the pain, but she assured me that “it really isn’t that bad.” Hmmmmpphhhh.
It turned out this tattoo shop was owned and operated by a woman, who was very friendly and pleasant to talk to. She showed me around, explained the procedure, and answered my questions. She told me that I could either pick a design from one of the books, or bring in my own design and she would be happy to tattoo it for me. This appealed to me, because I did in fact have a certain design in mind. After a little more discussion, we set up an appointment and I went home to contemplate my fate.
A few days later, I showed up for my appointment, with my special design in hand. I was greeted by my friendly tattoo artist (whose name I can no longer remember), who then introduced me to her male student, who was doing his “apprenticeship” in her shop in preparation for getting his own tattoo license. This gentleman was very polite and a bit flustered about the fact that on his very first day, he was going to be helping his instructor put a tattoo on a woman’s naked breast. I reassured him that I didn’t have any problems with it…”all in a day’s work.” Besides, when you’ve seen one boob, you’ve seen them all.
The actual tattooing wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be…it really didn’t hurt that much. Of course, the location might have had something to do with that – I’ve been told that the breast area is less painful than say…your ankle or pelvic area (or any place where the needle is close to the bone). Once it was all over, I had a chance to inspect the results, and I must say I was quite pleased. It wasn’t the easiest of designs, although it wasn’t that difficult compared to others I have seen. Nearly sixteen years later, I’m still pretty proud of it – take a look for yourself:
Yup, it’s a Celtic Knotwork design..sort of a fleur-de-lis shape. Actually, it is a modification of the design that is often found on the end tips of the Celtic Cross that can be seen in cemeteries all over the British Isles. I’m Celtic myself on both sides of the family, and I feel a strong bond to my Celtic heritage. I’m interested in all things Celtic – the culture, the history, the mythology, the language (Gaelic). And of course, the spirituality. While I consider myself eclectic, I do have a strong interest in the Celtic Path, and have been focusing more on Celtic Wicca, Shamanism, and Druidism in recent years.
I like the representation of the three petals of the flower, as three is a sacred number for many Pagans. Three represents the triple aspect of the Goddess – Maiden, Mother, and Crone…it represents the three phases of the moon – waxing, full, and waning…it represents the three aspects of an individual – body, mind and spirit.
So yes…my tattoo is a reflection of my spirituality, and my own personal connection with the Divine. The interlaced pattern with its unbroken lines symbolizes my own pilgramage in this life – both the quest to return to my own divine source, and the spiritual growth that occurs during such a quest.
Will I get another tattoo? For a long time I was content to just have this one, but lately I have been considering adding a second one. I’ve had the design I want for some time. It’s a bit more elaborate and complicated than the Celtic Knotwork on my breast – which means more time, more money, and likely more pain (ouch!) I need to establish a “tattoo fund” to start putting away the bucks for it, and then find a good tattoo artist who can render it justice on my lower back.
Maybe I’ll give Madame Lazonga a call.
to see more pictures of tattoos, and to read more about
Ocean’s thoughts on Paganism and tattoos,
check out her more recent posts:
Tattoos, Paganism, and This Blog
The Deaf Community Loves Their Tats Too!
if you look carefully, you can see Ocean’s tattoo on her upper left breast
Nice tattoo, Ocean! I want a tattoo myself, but I’m too chicken due to the pain factor, and I’m not sure what kind of tattoo I want to get either.
Do show us a picture of your new tattoo when you get it! 🙂
~ Deaf Pundit
Lol, I have four tattoos. The first was on a spurt of time (right idiom?) while I was in New Orleans back in ’98. Went in for a wolf footprint and in time it shrunk to a fox-sized footprint which I found ironic because by then I realized my spiritual guide has been a fox all along, not a wolf as I thought!
The second is of a rainforest poison dart frog. I didn’t plan on it, but that frog persisted on my mind for 3 years and one day I said, “fine! fine!” and got the tattoo. Once it was done, I felt peace.
Third is of friends’ goodbye gift to me before I moved to CO, and since it was at last minute, I had only tattoo books to look at. :p so I settled for an oriental word standing for “Shaman” to put on my spine. (Of all tattooes, this tattoo and frog tattoo were painful due to frog one right on my chestbone above the breast, and one in spine.)
Fourth is one I designed, and put on back, of a sleeping wolf cub curled, with death-head wings, to represent my child I lost in miscarriage.
English teacher here…smile! Since you asked, while I fully understood what you meant by “spurt of time” – the English idiom you were trying to come up with was probably “at the spur of the moment.”
Sounds like you have some nice tattoos, Wolfers. It also appears that they do indeed have special spiritual meanings for you, just like the article was saying. Our tattoos can represent many things to us – such as our spirit guides, our totem animals, our friends, and our loved ones.
If you get a chance to have pics taken, send them my way and I’ll be glad to put them up on the “Tattoo Lovers Blog.” I’m especially curious to see the frog tattoo!
I agree, where you put your tattoo is an important part of reducing the pain, which is why I would recommend that for a first tattoo, you look at putting it in a fleshy area away from the bone – such as the breast area or upper arm or fleshy part of your back away from the spine or shoulder blades.
This is part of why I am a little nervous about the second tattoo that I want to get – it will be down on my lower back, around my waistline, and will go horizontal across my back, sorta like a belt…which means it will be over my spine. I suspect this one is gonna hurt! I really like the design, tho…I’m not going to give it away by saying exactly what it is, but it will represent my spiritual name – Ocean. However, I fear it’s gonna take some time before I actually have the spare bucks to get it done – tattoos ain’t cheap nowadays and I figure this one will probably cost me around $200 to $300 due to the intricate design.
But it will happen, one of these days!
I have a tattoo that isn’t finished.. it’s of a sunflower.. minus the stem… my leg fell asleep while he was working, and that was more painful than the tattoo itself. I plan on (as a graduation present to myself) getting the color redone in the center, and adding a stem. I’m also considering another one somewhere on my back or upper arm… not sure what yet. There are several ideas playing around in my head, so I’ll just give it some time.
Another inked Pagan here!!
I have 4 tattoos …
my first was a small piece, self-deisnged, on my breast (a quarted circle with the quad colors and moon crescents and “horns”)
a mother Goddess on my left back shoulder …. a pentacle on my right back shoulder
and a patchwork heart with my hubby’s name on my inner left ankle
Hubby has a GreenMan on one leg and a GreenLady on the other as well as some other art as well
Blessings
Mama Kelly
Love the tat Osh. I’ve sent you mine in an email. Uh, the lower back isn’t TOO bad as far as pain. Oh wait, my daugther Beth said hers hurt but then it was rather HUGE.
Those of you who want to read about mothers and their reactions to daughters who have tattoos…you might want to check out Wolfers latest post in Journey to Deaf Identity – you can find the link in the sidebar menu, under “Deaf Blogs”…
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Nice tatt, ocean. I have a tattoo of a hummingbird on my left shoulder blade, i was thinking of expanding it, with “ivy twine” but will need to design it first.
I am thinking of doing a celtic tatt on my ankle too. Any good suggestion? I always look for a meaning in a tatt. So was thinking of something that means either “wisdom”, “clarity” or “wild”, “free”. Something like the “gypsy fire”.